Hall of Fame Clash in BB Distaff
Only in the Breeders’ Bowl do you find two Hall of Fame horses lining up against one another and neither of them being the favorite. But that’s what is going on in this year’s Breeders’ Bowl Distaff. Run at a mile and an eighth over a fast track this is a full field of twenty with lots of early speed and a good mix of three to six year olds. Let’s take a look at the field.
#1 No Give Up Dootsin 41/1
No Give Up Dootsin is the first of our three year olds in the field and she’s been pretty dominant against her own age group. She’s won her last two starts in listed stakes impressively. Both victories came at a mile and an eighth and saw her sit just off the pace before blowing the field away. In September she ran 109 speed and upped that to a 111 last time out. Previously this year she won a grade two so she does have some back class. She’s a daughter of Sir Winston out of a Blame x Unbridled’s Song mare.
#2 Ryans Tickets 11/1
We go from one of the youngest horses in the field to one of the two eldest in six year old Ryans Tickets. She’s a daughter of Authentic out of a Medaglia D’oro x A.P. Indy mare. Ryans Ticket ran in this race last year without hitting the board but the opposite is true of her races this year. She’s never missed the board in five starts and has won her last two. Both of those were grade three races, the first at nine furlongs where she sat midpack before unleashing a relentless closing run which got her up by just under a length while running a 111 speed. Her most recent start saw her run half a furlong longer and she made a much earlier move but won by the same amount while running a 115. In the past she has even won going wire to wire so she’s got good tactical speed. In last year’s running she got shuffled way back and never got the trip that she likes so that will be key to how well she does this year.
#3 Realm of Madness 13/1
Another horse in career best form is Realm of Madness. She’s won three of her last four starts including the biggest win of her career in the Grade One Jockey Filly Cup. That race was run at a mile and three sixteenths as was her win four starts back. She’s a nice stalker who does have a win going a mile and an eighth in that skein. She ran back to back 110s before running back to back 114s in her two most recent start. Realm of Madness is the first foal from a graded placed stakes winning Tapit x Giant’s Causeway dam.
#4 Geodesic Path 10/1
A daughter of Hall of Fame mare Street Etiquette who won the Breeders’ Bowl Juvenile Filly back in 2011, Geodesic Path has forged a different path than her dam. She’s gotten better with age. This year at four she’s won twice with two seconds and two thirds in six starts. She earned her biggest win two starts back when she took the Grade One Equinics at a mile and a quarter but she also won the Grade Two First State Distaff at the same distance. She ran 115 and 116 speeds in those two spots. Dropping back by a sixteenth of a mile last out and ran second in the Grade One Jockey Filly Cup where she ran a 113. She’s a need the lead kind of horse and drawing inside will help her get there. She’s a daughter of Medaglia D’oro with Street Etiquette being a Street Cry x Giant’s Causeway mare.
#5 Take the Cone Off 16/1
Scratchbred four year old Take the Cone Off is Tapit x Deputy Minister x Mr. Prospector. After having a very strong three year old season which saw her run a great fourth in this race last year Take the Cone Off has been a bit quiet this year. She’s only made four starts with a win in the Grade One Original Margarita being the highlight. That race was back in February in August she was second in the Grade One Ohy My Sweet Clementine but was beaten four lengths. Most recently she was well back in another grade one. She’ll have to find last year’s form to be competitive here, especially since she is another who wants the early lead.
#6 Jessica Bella 18/1
Another scratchbred is the five year old Ghostzapper x A.P. Indy x Storm Cat mare Jessica Bella. Jessica Bella has an interesting history. Her only grade one win came as a three year old in a sprint. In 2025 she ran a solid fifth in the Breeders’ Bowl F & M Turf. This season hasn’t won since February this year where she took a listed. Her most recent start saw her run third in the Grade One Bra Snap at a mile and a sixteenth where she sat fifth early on and really didn’t make up much ground at all while running a 109 speed.
#7 Tarkin 10/1
Already a Hall of Fame horse, four year old Tarkin has won four of her last five starts with the lowest speed she’s run in that grouping being a 112 and the highest a 117. She likes to come from well back in the pack, a strategy that served her well in her last two starts, both grade ones at a mile and a sixteenth. If there is a chink in her armor it is that she’s never won beyond that distance. She’s actually never even run at a mile and an eighth and was off the board in a mile and a quarter race last season. Cleverly named after a character in Star Wars, she is a daughter of War Front and based on the grade two winning Uncle Mo x Tiznow horse Yavin Prime (a Star Wars planet).
#8 Visible Vote 12/1
Four year old Visible Vote enters off three straight victories and all of them came at this distance. Three starts back she won the Grade Three Vogue Stakes with a 114 speed before winning two straight grade ones with 114 and 113 speeds. She sits midpack before exploding down the stretch. The worry for her is if she gets shuffled back more than she wants to it may be difficult to work out a trick so late in the race. She’s a daughter of the recently deceased Early Voting out of a stakes winning Tapit x Dynaformer mare. Older sister Votre Sante is also in this field.
#9 We Are Witnesses 18/1
We Are Witnesses made her first graded starts this year at age five. She won the Grade Two My Lady back in May by wiring the field and running a mile and a sixteenth. She added a second in the Grade One Very Vane where she battled for the early lead before taking over around the stretch but tiring late. She still ran a 113 that day going a mile and an eighth. Her two most recent starts have been uninspiring. She’ll have to find that early year will to win to be competitive here. She’s a daughter of Tapit based on the grade one winning Candy Ride x Sunday Silence horse Thebridegroomretur.
#10 Just Arrogant 18/1
The aptly named Just Arrogant is a scratchbred five year old Justify x Arrogate x Halo mare. She won the biggest race of her career over this track back in February when she took the Grade One Santa Marina. She was last of thirteen that day and indeed around the turnf she was still twelfth before powering home to get the win by a head with a 113 speed. Her four subsequent starts have not inspired confidence for this race. She was second in the Grade One Taffy Mile but off the board in her two most recent runs. Interestingly she prepped for this start in a grade one going seven furlongs.
#11 Got It Right 18/1
I’m uncertain how apt the name for this four year old is. She’s a multiple graded winner it’s true but she has bounced back and forth between surfaces throughout her career. In her two most recent starts she first won the Grade Two Rich and Famous on the lawn, closing from well back to blow the doors off the field with a 115 speed and then last out she switched to dirt and sat more midpack in the Grade One Personal Sign before again winning going away with a 112 speed. If there is one thing her connections ‘got right’ it is the distance with both of those races coming at a mile and a quarter. Can she shorten up and still show that devastating kick? She’s a scratchbred by Quality Road x Broad Brush x Sadler’s Wells which leaves me inclined to say longer may be better for her.
#12 Zoey’s Reign 43/1
Anyone who owns a well bred grade one winning filly has to be a happy player, not only because you’ve tasted success but because of the potential of more to come. Such was the case for War Reign, a daughter of War Front x Empire Maker who put together a good career on the track but with her second foal, a now three year old by Constitution, she has well and truly outdone herself. Zoey’s Reign has been on a tear winning eight of ten starts in her brief career including all five in 2026. Topped by the Bluegrass Oaks this filly has experience navigating a twenty horse field. Bookending that race were two other prestigious grade ones and most recently she took the Equinics at ten furlongs by a head. That may have been a touch too far for her but class showed through.
#13 Iron Carbide 15/1
Dangerous Reward is one of the best females the game has produced. A multiple grade one winner on the track she went on to have a Hall of Fame broodmare career that saw her produce two Hall of Famers among many others. Her son Deep Carbon (Deep Impact) was something of a disappointment as he was ‘only’ a stakes winner but his daughter Iron Carbide (Curlin) has more than made up for it. The five year old mare has won four times in graded competition with the most recent of those coming last November in the Grade One Genie in a Bottle Stakes at ten furlongs. In that spot she was near the back of the pack early but closed ten lengths down the stretch to win going away. She is still looking for her first victory of 2026 but she’s come close with runner up finishes in three grades and a third place finish in a grade one. Her speeds have not diminished averaging 109 for her last four races. She needs a little luck and perhaps is the type who likes the cooler air of November to find her best performance.
#14 Slackinfordemi 14/1
Slackinfordemi made a late start to the races, only running six times as a two and three year old. She’s made a heckuva lot of progress this year though, going from allowance winner to stakes winner to grade two winner in rapid succession. Indeed in her eight starts this year she’s only missed the exacta once. She enters off a solid second in the Grade One Spin it to Win it Stakes at this distance where she ran a 110 speed after tracking the field in midpack. She’s a daughter of War Front based on Denny Way, a grade one winning Quality Road x Street Cry horse who was in turn a son of the powerhouse Hall of Fame mare Tears in Seattle.
#15 She’s Dangerous 11/1
And now comes the big horse. Well at least the biggest horse with Breeders’ Bowl Distaff written all over her past performances. Hall of Fame five year old She’s Dangerous has won the last two runnings of this race after dominant three and four year old seasons. That is not so true about this year though. After two runner up finishes in grade ones (one by just a head) she was uncharacteristically off the board in two straight races over the summer. She most recently ran third in the Grade One Great Dame where she closed from seventh of nine to be beaten four lengths. She’s a scratchbred daughter of Curlin x Danzig x Mr. Prospector who will need to dig deep to find a third win in this spot.
#16 Just Gorgeous 12/1
Five year old Just Gorgeous has put together a strong career with graded wins and placings but the key is that all of her stakes success has come at a mile and a sixteenth or less. Her last two starts have been as good as any in her career – a win in the Grade Three Independence Mile and a strong third in the Grade One Superfilly Handicap at a mile and a sixteenth. She ran a 114 in the former, 110 in the latter. She’s got excellent tactical speed and likes to sit just off the leaders early on. The distance is really the biggest question for her. She’s a daughter of Silver State out of the grade three winning Bernardini x Nureyev mare Special Fable. Just Gorgeous is her fourth foal and second graded winner.
#17 Belief in Bricks 68/1
The three year old Belief in Bricks is the longest shot on the board. She’s looking for the first graded win of her career although she came just a half length short in her most recent run when third in the Grade Two Cotton Handicap. That race came at a mile and a sixteenth and that is the longest she has ever run. She did run a 107 speed in that spot where she sat fourth early on before making a sustained rally. She’s a daughter of Bricks and Mortar out of a Kingman x Nayef mare. She’s her dam’s third foal and first stakes horse.
#18 Votre Sante 11/1
Entering off the biggest victory of her career is five year old Votre Sante. Two months ago she took the Grade One Superfilly Handicap at a mile and a sixteenth. In that spot she sat fifth early on but rallied down the stretch to win by a length and a half with a 112 speed. Back in April she ran even faster when winning the Grade Three Wiley Jenny at the same distance with a 114. Although her recent runs have been at slightly shorter distances than today’s race she did win a listed stakes at nine furlongs back in 2025 with a 115 speed so the return to this distance should not be a problem. She doesn’t always fire big but when she does she’s a threat to any horse in the field. She’s a daughter of Life is Good out of a stakes winning Tapit x Dynaformer mare. She’s the first foal for her dam and her year younger sister Visible Vote is in post eight.
#19 Into Bookworms 19/1
Into Bookworms is a four year old scratchbred daughter of Into Mischief x Smart Strike x Nureyev. She’s just shy of $2,000,000 in earnings with grade one wins in each of her three seasons of racing. Earlier this season she took the Union Jack Flyer Stakes at a mile by sitting midpack before taking the lead down the stretch and turning on the afterburners to win by two and a half lengths with a 112 speed. Interestingly she prepped for this spot with a second place finish in the seven and a half furlong Hollars Distaff where she ran a 110 speed. That was her first sprint since her two year old season. Trainer lbailey likely was looking for a race to sharpen her up but it may have her a bit too keen early on. One of her grade one wins did come at today’s distance so that shouldn’t be a problem.
#20 Shadow of a Dream 9/1
Parked way on the outside of the field is the favorite Shadow of a Dream. In five starts this year she’s won three times and was second another. All three of her wins came in graded stakes including her two most recent starts in grade ones. In July she took the Grade One Very Vane at this distance sitting far back in the pack early on to win going away by two lengths with a 116 speed. Most recently she won the Equinics at a mile with a 112. She’s in career best form for a six year old and it’s going to take a lot to beat her. She’s a scratchbred daughter of Practical Joke x Unbridled x Seattle Slew.
Good luck to all!